Abraham Lincoln, Volume II eBook

and few Southerners doubted that he was sure of taking
it and Richmond. In the middle country Sherman,
after taking Atlanta, had soon thereafter marched
cheerily forth on his imposing, theatrical, holiday
excursion to the sea, leaving General Thomas behind
him to do the hard fighting with General Hood.
The grave doubt as to whether too severe a task had
not been placed upon Thomas was dispelled by the middle
of the month, when his brilliant victory at Nashville
so shattered the Southern army that it never again
attained important proportions. In June preceding,
the notorious destroyer, the Alabama, had been sunk
by the Kearsarge. In November the Shenandoah,
the last of the rebel privateers, came into Liverpool,
and was immediately handed over by the British authorities
to Federal officials; for the Englishmen had at last
found out who was going to win in the struggle.
In October, the rebel ram Albemarle was destroyed
by the superb gallantry of Lieutenant Cushing.
Thus the rebel flag ceased to fly above any deck.
Along the coast very few penetrable crevices could
still be found even by the most enterprising blockade-runners;
and already the arrangements were making which brought
about, a month later, the capture of Fort Fisher and
Wilmington.

Under these circumstances the desire to precipitate
the pace and to reach the end with a rush possessed
many persons of the nervous and eager type. They
could not spur General Grant, so they gave their vexatious
attention to the President, and endeavored to compel
him to open with the Confederate government negotiations
for a settlement, which they believed, or pretended
to believe, might thus be attained. But Mr. Lincoln
was neither to be urged nor wheedled out of his simple
position. In his message to Congress he referred
to the number of votes cast at the recent election
as indicating that, in spite of the drain of war,
the population of the North had actually increased
during the preceding four years. This fact shows,
he said, “that we are not exhausted nor in process
of exhaustion; that we are gaining strength,
and may, if need be, maintain the contest indefinitely.
This as to men. Material resources are now more
complete and abundant than ever. The natural
resources, then, are unexhausted, and, as we believe,
inexhaustible. The public purpose to reestablish
and maintain the national authority is unchanged,
and, as we believe, unchangeable. The manner
of continuing the effort remains to choose. On
careful consideration of all the evidence accessible,
it seems to me that no attempt at negotiation with
the insurgent leader could result in any good.
He would accept nothing short of severance of the
Union,—­precisely what we will not and cannot
give. His declarations to this effect are explicit
and oft-repeated. He does not attempt to deceive
us. He affords us no excuse to deceive ourselves.
He cannot voluntarily re-accept the Union; we cannot
voluntarily yield it. Between him and us the
issue is distinct, simple, and inflexible. It
is an issue which can only be tried by war, and decided
by victory. If we yield, we are beaten; if the
Southern people fail him, he is beaten. Either
way, it would be the victory and defeat following
war.